Inspiration
by PurpleandPink2005
Summary: Where Lucy has no inspiration for a sketch when a certain male invades her privacy.
1. Chapter 1

The blonde looked over at the seats filled with rowdy kids, the yelling and screaming causing her ears to ring. Searching for an open seat with her eyes, they lit up when they landed upon an empty one near the back. She made her way to her seat with her eyes glued to the aisle, careful not to trip over feet and instrument cases.

"Excuse me! Oops, sorry about that!. Is it alright if I step over you? Thanks!"

She eventually got through and sat next to the window, turning her head to stare at the familiar and not bodies walk to their bus, all of them looking exhausted and ready to go home.

She sighed and lifted her arms free from the straps of her bookbag and swung it onto her lap, unzipped it, and pulled her notebook out, the blue cover torn from being misused.

She flipped to a blank page and unzipped another pocket, grabbing her new favorite mechanical pencil that she found on the floor in school five minutes ago.

She tucked her thumb under her chin as images of what she could draw flooded her mind.

Unfortunately, none of them were good.

She looked around the bus to see if there was anyone she didn't have in her notebook.

The scary sword girl? Check.

The stripper guy? Check.

That girl who looked like she belonged in Elementary school instead of 8th grade? Check.

She sighed and was about to push her book bag to the other side of the seat so it seemed full when a guy threw himself into it, his thigh brushing hers.

Lucy, not exactly liking the contact, decided to speak up.

"Um...excuse me?"

The boy didn't turn to look at her, instead he listened to a conversation that was happening in the seat before theirs, looking ready to throw in insult at someone she couldn't see.

"Uhhh.. hello?"

No response.

Lucy sighed in defeat and gabbed her book and pencil again, her mind searching for ideas on what to make when she realized…

The boy beside her.

She never saw him before.

His onyx eyes were gleaming with mischief, his hair was kind of weird, not that she minded, and his lips...

Let's not talk about those things under his nose that Lucy may or may not have had the sudden urge to put her own on.

Wasn't she annoyed at him like 10 seconds ago?

She shook her head and focused on her old thought, surely the boy wouldn't mind?

She shrugged and got to work, first sketching the shape of his head and neck.

She snickered to herself.

Oh, this was going to be _good._


	2. Pathetic tears

The rumbling of the bus vibrated in Lucy's eardrums as she finished off her new crush's earlobe. During the past five minutes of her struggling to copy down the beautiful stranger's face into her notebook, she decided that the weird feelings in her stomach  
were in fact those butterflies her mother had been talking about, and decided to accept it.

He wasn't _exactly_ the best person to fall for but he wasn't the worst.

Right?

She exhaled and turned to study her crush again.

He wasn't exactly the best model, his leg would bob up and down, fingers would drum on his thigh, and he'd change his position every so often. He was still facing the guy in the back, most likely waiting for the perfect time to strike the guy. Verballyor  
physically, she couldn't tell.

She sighed and flipped her pencil over to erase the ear she'd attempted to recreate.

Flipping the pencil again, she sketched the outline of his ear when a thought struck her head,

It wasn't good enough, it never would be.

She sighed in frustration and slumped in her seat. Tears welled in her eyes and a burning sensation grew in her throat.

She was crying for not being able to draw a ear.

How pathetic could she get!

"Hey, you okay?" A voice asked. She looked to her left to see her Senpai. His back still towards her but she doubted the question was for anyone else.

Wait a minute. Senpai?

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." She answered. Although she probably looked anything _but_ fine. Tears welled in her eyes, ready to spill out and her face was most likely red from the sudden thought of Senpais.

"I can smell your tears from here y'know." He chuckled. If only she could see it.

"That's gross." She stated, her voice more confident than the last sentence she had spoke and she silently cheered herself for it.

"You're grosser." He retorted. He finally looked at her, brilliant green eyes, gazed into her own, but with her pathetic crying and red face, she suddenly wished he hadn't.

"That doesn't make any sense." She sat up from her slumped position and glared at her crush.

His poor grammar will not get away with this!

"Yeah it does."

"Oh yeah? In what world?" she retaliated, cheering for herself again for the good comeback.

Alright, It wasn't _that_ good.

"Mine." He then narrowed his eyes.

"And I'd like it if you joined me."

She wished she had left it at that, she really did, but of course she didn't, her big mouth just _had_ to open up, and that's what got her into mess.

"That makes no sense what so ever"

* * *

Yayyy, I'm done. Sorry this took so long, I don't actually have a reason for this sooooo, I was busy?

leave a review please, I like them, even if they're random letters constructed into words, I don't mind.

BYE


	3. Portals and fake despair

This chapter's going to be in Lucy's Point of view. Although there isn't any difference except for the fact that I changed the word "she" to "I".

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yup."

If I get in trouble for this, it's going to be all your fault y'know."

"Yup"

"So, what's the plan?"

"Alright." He started. "There's a bus stop that we're going to go off at in couple of minutes. That's this guy's stop." He pointed at the seat behind us and I looked back to see a teen with long black hair and studs staring at me.

"Sup." He then turned to his left to speak to someone with blue-dyed hair, a red tattoo covering half of his face. I had never seen him before. I hadn't seen any of them before.

Why was I only noticing them now?

I turned back to the pink haired guy, who took it a cue to continue.

"Anyway, Metalhead lives near the park, where the portal is."

"Huh."

"One hour there is about three here."He paused. "Is there anyone who's going to be waiting for you?"

I thought about the question he asked. Maybe father? I pondered at the thought.

Nah, he probably wouldn't notice I was gone. Besides, even if he did, he would say no. Then again, any father with a daughter like me would. I couldn't say I wanted to hang out with friends because I didn't have any, he knows I didn't go outside much, and he definitely knew how much of in Introvert I was.

How am I even holding a standard conversation right now?

I internally shook my head and searched my brain for anyone else who would care.

Virgo? She went to California.

Loke? He's going on a date today, probably going to take the day trying to look fresh.

Who even goes on a date on a Tuesday?

"Uh,no. There is no one I need to inform." I lied. Maybe I should've have said father, maybe he _would_ care about me...

The guy must have noticed this, because the next sentence he uttered was,"Are you sure? I don't want your folks getting worried."

This son of a biscuit doesn't trust me!

"Yes, I _am_ very sure. I think I would know who cares about me and who doesn't." I glared.

"Sorry, but no need to be protective of yourself." He took my right hand and covered them with his own. "I just told you about a portal that could potentially erase the entire human population, the least you could do is tell me what's wrong."

I jerked it away from his burning ones and sighed, tearing my gaze from his face and re-positioned it on the ground. Maybe I was over-reacting.

I smirked.

But he didn't need to know that.

I sighed, making sure to exaggerate it and spoke. "I'll tell you when I feel like it-" I looked at him with eyes full of fake despair-"okay?"

He nodded sympathetically, and turned to face the front, his back sagging.

I looked at my lap to see my notebook and pencil innocently sitting there, just waiting to be used.

 _Not now guys, not now._

I zipped my bag open and stuffed my things inside, doing it slowly and heart-brokenly so the pink haired guy would notice my hopelessness.

It sure did if the deepening in his slouch was anything to go by.

I swung my bag over to my back and slumped in my seat. Exhaustion I didn't even know I had sweeping through.

I just wanted to sleep, just sleep and never wake up.

Yeah, that sounds nice, just never wake up...

Apparently I couldn't do that because the bus had screeched to a stop and the pink haired guy suddenly stood up.

"We're here."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

She hopped off the last stair of the yellow vehicle, her feet landing on the sand-colored sidewalk. She looked up to scan the beautiful town that the black haired guy lived in.

Of course it wasn't as beautiful as her neighborhood. With beautiful trimmed bushes and perfect marble houses, nothing could _possibly_ go wrong in-

"Ya comin' blondie?"

Turning to her right, she saw the Stud guy watching her with an impatient expression a couple of yards away, the pink haired dude already skipping ahead to the direction of what she hoped was the park.

Should she?

"Yes! Of Course!" She answered, increasing her speed to reach the boys.

Stud guy turned around and walked slowly so she could catch up.

"Name's Gajeel by the way." He said when she was across from him. He turned his head and his glaring red eyes gazed into her, he smirked.

"Lucy." She smiled back.

"NATSU!" A distance voice yelled, and they all laughed.

And as weird as it was, Lucy kinda felt at home.

* * *

"Sooooo, we good now?"

She glanced up from her feet to look at the pin-Natsu.

"Hmm? Oh uh yeah, we're good."

"Good." He grinned, hands folded behind his head as he looked off into the golden sky. "Good."

Gajeel had already left, saying he had to take care of something, so It was just them. Natsu then reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. Pressing the home button, the screen lit up, revealing a blue kitten and the time written above.

 _4:15_

She opened her mouth he question the blue cat but decided against it, deeming the question to be too personal for their relationship.

 _He probably showed a lot of people a random portal in a random park._

"This year's gone by pretty quickly huh?" He spoke randomly, eyes still on the sky above.

"Yeah. I guess so." She answered

She looked back at her feet. Feeling the need to make more conversation, she turned to look at her beautiful almost-friend.

"Are we there yet?"

She mentally smacked and kicked herself simultaneously, softly groaning at her stupid question. Of all the questions she could've possibly asked. She just _had_ to ask that didn't she?

 _Now he's going to hate me._ She thought. _Now senpai's going to hate me and never talk to me again and then I'll have no friends and I'll never get married and then I'll have to live with a thousand cats and-_

"Yup." He answered, popping the 'p'. "Top of the hill"

That seemed to put her brain at a pause as her head jerked up to see the park she'd been waiting so desperately for.

"What are we waiting for then? Let'sss goooooooo!"

She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the playground, intent to drag him off, but was pulled back to him when he didn't budge, she tugged harder, squeezing his right hand with both of hers. His lips twitched into a smile, his body suddenly unmoveable.

"The Portal can only be opened with calm souls."

"I highly doubt you are what people would consider a calm soul." She retorted, hands on her hips.

He shrugged, and walked past her, hands in his pockets."Portal's delicate." He told her when she caught up."Dunno why, just is."

Thirty seconds of walking later she stepped over the tiny border surrounding the playground.

 _They were here._

She looked around. Swings and monkey bars filled her vision and her heartbeat quickened, sweat gathered at her palms, and an old thought re-entered her mind.

 _He probably showed this to everyone he meets._ She thought in attempt to calm herself _. I can't possibly be special in any way._

Her eyes widened, and she unknowingly took a few steps back

 _Right_?

"Hey, you're not going to bail on me now, are ya?" A voice called. Her head shot up to see an impatient Natsu tapping his foot on the mulch of the playground. "I doubt you would have wanted to walk all this way for nothing."

"N-no." She stuttered. "I will not."

"Good, 'cause I'd hafta kill you if you did." A deep chuckle followed his sentence, and he sat on the end of a yellow slide, flipping out his phone.

"I'm kidding of course." He said after a couple of seconds of scrolling, but that did nothing to erase her fear.

She meekly sat on the wooden bench next to her, glancing at her golden watch. 4:25. Gazing up at the fiery-colored sky, she could only hope this day wouldn't be her last. She shakily exhaled.

 _What did I get myself into?_

 _Comment if you think I need a schedule for this because I certainly think I do._

 _Leave a review! It means a lot, like, a lot, so you know, do it,_

 _please._


	5. A Room Full of Static

"Can I, um, ask a question?"

"Go ahead." He said, setting his phone down to his lap, allowing Lucy his full attention.

She shifted in her seat and twiddled her thumbs. After the question that had formed inside her mind, this senpai-stranger made her extremely uncomfortable.

Now that she thinks about it, she doubted she even liked him in the first place. Maybe that feeling in her stomach weren't butterflies…

I mean, you couldn't like someone so suddenly, could you?

"Are you going to ask your question?" He asked, causing her to jump at the intrusion.

That happens a lot, doesn't it?

"Yeah! Uh, why are we sitting here?

His eyes widened for moment, as if he wasn't expecting inquiry, and then replied.

"Of course, sorry for not explaining. The portal opens at five o' clock."

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, all traces of meekness gone. "Why?"

"That's when the sun rises in that dimension" He answered.

"But why does the sun rising have to do with anything?"

"I don't know." He simply replied, turning his attention back to his device.

Lucy sighed, there was two ways this was either going.

One, the boy really didn't know, or two, he was hiding something from her.

He was hard to read, so she really couldn't tell.

"It's 4:30, let's get started." Natsu suddenly spoke, standing up. Lucy did the same, and followed him under the slide he was previously sitting under.

"Is there anyone here?" He whispered. She scanned the area, finding that the whole place was empty. No one on the sidewalks, no cars on the road, and no children riding bikes nearby.

"Nope."

"Good." He replied, crouching in the middle of the little playground, the square-ish area surrounded by slides, ladders and other things to distract little kids.

"So," She started, crouching down beside Natsu as he dug a hole in the mulch. "How exactly are we supposed to get into this portal?"

"There's a chamber below this, the portal's there."

"Oh, that's, wow."

He scoffed, "I know right? Now help me."

They dug through the mulch together, Lucy regretting not cutting her nails as dirt went underneath them. Minutes went by, and the hole got deeper and deeper, only to uncover more mulch.

"How deep is this thing?" Lucy cried, growing frustrated as time went on.

"Patience, child."

"Can we buy little shovel things next time we do this?"

"Let's do that tomorrow."

They kept on digging, until Lucy felt something that wasn't mulch, but something made of wood.

"I feel it!"

"I can see that."

"They wiped the mulch off of the chamber door, revealing a relatively-new wooden trapdoor.

"Natsu."

"Lucy?"

"Why is the door locked with the kind of lock I have for my locker?"

"Because Gajeel accidently broke the original one so I had to use my old lock?"

"Hm."

"Are you judging me?"

"Yes."

He sighed, unlocked the lock, and opened the door, revealing a wooden staircase down into a dark abyss. He looked at her with a dark intensity in his eyes, and then turned to the staircase.

"Lucy," He started, his voice was quivering, " can I hold you hand?"

"What?" She wasn't expecting that, "Why?"

"Because I'm scared!" He looked back at her and grabbed her arm, his eyes filled absolute fear.

"What?" You've never been down there before?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Then how have you been knowing what to do this entire time?"

"Because," He quickly unlocked his phone, opening the messages app, and scrolling through hundreds of text messages, "Erza has been texting me this entire time!"

"The scary sword girl?"

"Yes!"

"Does she know I'm here?"

"Yes! What, did you think I would bring some random girl with me to a secret portal because she was drawing me?"

"You noticed?"

"Duh, it was really good by the way."

"Oh, thank you." She blushed and looked away to the heaping mountains of mulch they both had made. "And yes, I really did think you would bring some random girl with you to a secret portal."

"Come on Lucy! You're smarter than that!"

She opened her mouth to protest, but was beaten by the sound Natsu's phone going off.

"Hello? Oh, Erza? Yes! We'll be right there!"

He hung up, his face filled with even more fear and anxiety than before.

"Let's go, Era's waiting for us on the other side." He turned on the flashlight on his phone, grabbed her left arm with his right, and rushed down the stairs. The stone stairs were huge and flat, and so was the space between the walls. It was much bigger than she expected.

"Hey! What about the mess we've made? What's gonna happen to that?"

"Erza said Gajeel will fix it."

"Erza didn't come with us, does that mean there are other portals?"

"I think she can answer that for you. Any more questions?"

"Yeah, could you stop dragging me down? I think I'm going to fall."

"Then fall, If I let you go you'll take too long."

"What happened to you being scared a second ago?"

"There are many things scarier than a flight of long stairs"

"Such as?"

"Such as the scary beast waiting for us."

He suddenly stopped running, and Lucy would've tripped if he hadn't caught her with his left arm.

"What is it Natsu? Why'd you stop?"

"You didn't notice?" We're here."

She was expecting a portal like in Minecraft, but instead, there was only a steel door waiting ahead. It looked misplaced with the rugged stone.

"Do we just head inside?" Lucy asked.  
"Yeah, pretty much."

She walked ahead of him and opened the door, nothing waiting but pure white, but inviting. She walked inside, not hearing Natsu calling her name and telling her to stop, but the faint static noise of this new world. As she walked in deeper, the static noise grew louder. She didn't remember closing the door at all, but she ran inside, the sound of the growing static noise somehow addicting. Liquid was running down her her right ear, she touched it, and looked at it.

Red?

Her vision turned black.


End file.
